Chapter Summaries

Xiao Nian tracked Good Night through the ventilation shafts after discovering he had gone off the planned route, while Nightless Sky Fire Apricot waited in the Great Wilderness for Oumia Bosen to arrive. The chapter ended with her wondering why he had not appeared after receiving her email.

• Xiao Nian used negotiation with the puppet to buy time while [Theseus's Self] adjusted her Alchemy Energy disguise and endured damage to her Alchemy Components.
• Xiao Nian reached the bottom of the air shaft and followed the residual Alchemy Energy left by Good Night’s [Resentment Furnace] to passage 006.
• Xiao Nian found that Good Night had entered passage 006 instead of the planned passage 020, and the alarms there had been switched off for him.
• Xiao Nian forced a spinning fan to stop, slipped through its blades, and continued into passage 006 to find Good Night.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot played a game while waiting in the storeroom and wondered whether Oumia Bosen would come after receiving her email about Supervisor Tennyson.

Lin Yu and Nightless Sky Fire Apricot waited in a warehouse while pretending to be dead for Oumia Bosen to respond to their message. As they discussed their disguises, Lin Yu revealed that Old Zheng was a notorious lunatic despite his mild appearance.

• Lin Yu told Nightless Sky Fire Apricot that Oumia Bosen might take a while to check his email, so they continued playing dead while waiting for a reply or a sign of someone approaching.
• Old Zheng complained that maintaining a low-life-force state was exhausting, and Lin Yu offered to remove his fabricated body and have Nightless Sky Fire Apricot preserve his brain in a jar.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot eagerly described her brain-preservation supplies, prompting Old Zheng to refuse and say he could endure his current state.
• Stiller explained that his artificial-human design included an energy-saving hibernation mode that let him remain conscious while appearing dead.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot said Old Zheng looked too mild and intellectual to pass as her gangland subordinate, and Lin Yu clarified that Old Zheng's own organization was far more vicious and insane than her gangs.

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot tried to recruit Old Zheng by offering to build him a customized body and pay Lin Yu with a Noble, but Old Zheng refused and began to explain why he chose to follow Lin Yu. Their conversation was interrupted when an unknown device activated, and Lin Yu and Old Zheng identified it as a portal made with technology from the Mist Island Realm's Previous Civilization.

• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot offered Old Zheng a job and promised to create him a new, customizable body, but Old Zheng refused to leave Lin Yu.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot offered Lin Yu a Noble as compensation for losing Old Zheng, but Lin Yu declined and said Old Zheng should decide for himself.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot asked Old Zheng why he followed Lin Yu, and Old Zheng struggled to explain his practical reasons.
• An alchemical installation in the storeroom activated, interrupting the conversation as a black void filled its ring.
• Lin Yu identified the installation as a portal, and Old Zheng recognized its energy as belonging to a Mindscape series device from the Mist Island Realm's Previous Civilization.

Lin Yu and his companions prepared for a visitor emerging from a Mindscape facility’s relay passage, which connected the Barren Realm to its Gate of Boundary. A bulky metal-shelled stranger arrived and asked whether they had inherited or stolen the Transfer Gate, and Lin Yu said they had salvaged it.

• Old Zheng identified the facility as a Mist Island Mindscape device that could fold space, while Lin Yu sensed its passage linked to the Barren Realm’s Gate of Boundary.
• Lin Yu and Nightless Sky Fire Apricot concluded the device likely connected Supervisor Tennyson, Oumia Bosen, and their Hidden Organization to other worlds, then prepared for a possible hostile visitor.
• A bulky figure inside a verdigris metal shell emerged from the passage as Lin Yu and his companions took defensive positions.
• The stranger asked whether they were the Transfer Gate’s inheritors or robbers, and Lin Yu replied that they had salvaged it.

Lin Yu questioned Adventurer about the portal device and his connection to Dark Rock, Mr. Candle, and their hidden group. Adventurer inferred that Nightless Sky Fire Apricot was Nightless Sky Huo Ming, a powerful member of the Nightless Sky Family, while Lin Yu knew his conclusion about her motives was wrong.

• Adventurer said he had known Dark Rock, also called Tennyson, well and explained that their group served a boss, with Mr. Candle coordinating its affairs.
• Lin Yu deduced that Adventurer collected otherworld materials for their boss and that Dark Rock handled equipment while Mr. Candle managed distribution.
• Adventurer said he suspected Lin Yu had close ties to the Nightless Sky Family and that the Fairy Queen belonged to its direct bloodline.
• Adventurer reasoned that the Fairy Queen's hidden past and recent use of her resources pointed to her being the current Family Head's daughter.
• Adventurer addressed Nightless Sky Fire Apricot as Nightless Sky Huo Ming, while Lin Yu reflected that she had become the Fairy Queen simply because it amused her.

The Adventurer mistook Nightless Sky Fire Apricot for Nightless Sky Huo Ming, the Fairy Queen, and explained why he believed she was secretly building influence in the Outer City. He revealed that his boss was the supposedly dead Founder of Supreme Evolution, Lord Creator, and Nightless Sky Fire Apricot said she had always believed Creator had survived the war.

• The Adventurer identified the Fairy Queen as Nightless Sky Huo Ming and promised to keep her identity secret.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot asked how the Adventurer had first suspected her, and he cited her alliances with overlooked heirs of noble families.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and Lin Yu questioned the Adventurer about his powerful boss and challenged his assumptions about noble status.
• The Adventurer declared that his boss was Lord Creator, the legendary founder of Supreme Evolution, who had survived the hunt by the corporations and noble families.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and Lin Yu discussed whether Creator was truly alive, and Lin Yu said the Adventurer genuinely believed it.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot said she had long believed Creator had escaped the war and that his apparent death might have been part of his design.

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and Lin Yu questioned the Adventurer about the Creator, exposing that he had not seen or directly contacted him since Supreme Evolution collapsed. The Adventurer insisted the Creator was alive and claimed to possess proof: his unique Miracle Alchemy, which reached into the Deity Domain.

• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot praised the Creator to win the Adventurer’s trust and asked him to arrange a meeting.
• The Adventurer said the Creator might make an exception for Nightless Sky Fire Apricot but refused to introduce her to him.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and Lin Yu pressed the Adventurer about when he had last seen the Creator.
• Lin Yu concluded that the Adventurer could not contact the Creator directly and that only Mr. Candle could reach him.
• The Adventurer grew angry and claimed he had seen proof the Creator was alive: the Creator’s unique Miracle Alchemy.

Lin Yu and Nightless Sky Fire Apricot questioned Adventurer about Creator's unique Alchemy, learning that he drew energy from outside the world and used it to develop armor. Adventurer insisted Creator was alive and refused to arrange a meeting, but the portal began to pulse as if something was about to emerge.

• Lin Yu pressed Adventurer on whether anyone could imitate Creator's Alchemy, and Adventurer insisted the techniques could not be replicated.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot explained that the three major Alchemy lineages could create alchemical energy, but Adventurer claimed Creator had invented his own Supreme Alchemy.
• Adventurer revealed that Creator drew energy from outside the world, enabling his group to build armor that withstood energy from other worlds.
• Adventurer declared that Creator was alive, refused to take Lin Yu and Nightless Sky Fire Apricot to him, and turned to leave.
• The spatial device began to ripple, and Adventurer accused Nightless Sky Fire Apricot of arranging an ambush; she denied it, and he asked what if she had.

The Teleportation Device destabilized and opened a black hole, through which a masked man emerged and attacked Adventurer. The man fled when Nightless Sky Fire Apricot intervened, and Adventurer claimed the attack had caused him to hallucinate.

• Old Zheng sensed that the Teleportation Device was about to explode, while Adventurer struggled to move away in his heavy metal shell.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot prepared to rescue Adventurer, but the device erupted into a black hole and spatial tremors knocked everyone down.
• Lin Yu realized the disturbance came from someone arriving, and a masked man in a Navy-Blue Short Jacket emerged from the black hole.
• The masked man drained the energy from Adventurer's shots and attacked him, but retreated when Nightless Sky Fire Apricot charged in.
• The masked man vanished into the black hole, which then disappeared, and Adventurer said the attack had made him hallucinate.

Lin Yu connected the deaths of Dark Rock and the Rainbowlight Family’s second son to a hidden attacker who used illusions, then persuaded Adventurer to consider cooperating with his group. His deductions about Adventurer’s identity went awry when she revealed herself as Ailan Rainbowlight, the future Duke Rainbowlight.

• Lin Yu told Adventurer that Paris, Dark Rock, and likely the Rainbowlight Family’s second son had been caught in illusions created by a hidden force targeting the Remnants of Supreme Evolution.
• Lin Yu urged Adventurer to cooperate with his organization and meet Mr. Candle, then identified Candle as Oumia Bosen.
• Lin Yu deduced that Adventurer was a highborn young noble with ties to the Rainbowlight Family, but mistakenly concluded she was the dead second son’s older brother.
• Stiller pointed out that the Rainbowlight Family’s heir was a woman, and Adventurer removed her helmet to reveal herself as Ailan Rainbowlight.
• Ailan teased Lin Yu for not knowing she was a woman, and Nightless Sky Fire Apricot remarked that he had known another noble who failed to recognize royal bloodline members.

Ailan Rainbowlight agreed to take Lin Yu and Nightless Sky Fire Apricot to Oumia Bosen, but the three-day trek through the Great Wilderness prompted Nightless Sky Fire Apricot to reveal a faster route. The group entered an underground river, where Ailan eagerly awaited the next thrill.

• Ailan Rainbowlight agreed to lead Lin Yu and Nightless Sky Fire Apricot to Oumia Bosen, whose base was in Zone W.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and Ailan argued over Ailan's failed business, while Old Zheng analyzed why privileged heirs could overestimate their abilities.
• Ailan said reaching Oumia's base would take three to four days on foot because heavy snow made ordinary vehicles useless.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot opened a hidden passage by stamping on a manhole cover and jumped into it.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot's Metal Grappling Claw pulled Ailan into the passage, and they landed on a boat in an underground river.

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and Ailan Rainbowlight traveled by speedboat through the underground waterways toward W District while Lin Yu explained how he had learned Ailan’s identity and past. He revealed that the attacker who had frightened Ailan was his own planted ally—and Nightless Sky Fire Apricot’s supposedly dead maternal uncle.

• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot assigned Ailan Rainbowlight to pilot one of the stolen speedboats, despite Old Zheng’s concerns, and led the group through the underground waterways.
• Lin Yu joined Nightless Sky Fire Apricot’s boat and told her he had used an item tied to the Fear Authority to see Ailan Rainbowlight’s memories of her bankruptcy.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot realized Ailan’s frightening visions might have come from her past trauma and questioned whether the mysterious attacker had truly caused them.
• Lin Yu told Nightless Sky Fire Apricot that the attacker was her mother’s actual brother, whom her mother had cast out of the world rather than killed.
• Lin Yu admitted he had arranged the attack to uncover Ailan Rainbowlight’s identity and make her believe their enemy was exceptionally powerful, helping secure her cooperation.

Lin Yu explained that he had summoned Nightless Sky Yong Shang to meet Nightless Sky Fire Apricot’s mother and investigate the fake Creator, while his other partners pursued the real mastermind. Elsewhere, Good Night was captured in a scrap warehouse and confronted the masked figure who had trapped him.

• Lin Yu told Nightless Sky Fire Apricot that her uncle, Nightless Sky Yong Shang, was alive and imprisoned in a deity’s realm, and they agreed that her mother had likely arranged it.
• Lin Yu said he wanted Nightless Sky Yong Shang’s return to shock the Family Head, while he and Nightless Sky Fire Apricot focused on Oumia Bosen and the suspected fake Creator.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot noted that the staged attack provided no real clue about who killed Dark Rock and framed Paris, and Lin Yu said his other partners were investigating elsewhere.
• Good Night realized the directions over his compromised comms channel had led him into a scrap warehouse, where an Alchemy Snare disabled his equipment and suspended him upside down.
• Good Night refused to call for help, suspecting the enemy planned to use him as bait, and shouted defiance until the lights revealed a masked figure sitting beneath him.

A masked figure explained why Good Night’s plan to steal data from the Divine Power Tower was unlikely to work, then claimed to offer a better solution. He gave Good Night a storage device said to contain the Divine Power Group’s Supreme Evolution research, along with a joking claim about idol photos.

• Good Night woke suspended upside down in a room beneath the Divine Power Tower and threatened the white-suited figure, who said he meant no harm but kept him tied up to prevent an attack.
• The white-suited figure argued that Arase Nian lacked the skills and clearance to bypass the tower’s security and steal its data.
• Good Night correctly guessed that the Divine Power Group’s security was strengthened by the rivalry between the Autumn Family and the Mercury Family.
• The white-suited figure said no helper could compensate for Good Night’s inability to crack security mechanisms, prompting Good Night to complain that their group was short on time.
• The white-suited figure placed a storage device in Good Night’s pocket and said it contained the Divine Power Group’s data on Supreme Evolution.
• The white-suited figure added that the device also contained 400 collections of underground idol photos, then admitted that claim was a lie.

Good Night learned that White Suit, who called themself Creator, had given him Supreme Evolution technology as an investment in his plans. Meanwhile, Fu Luo analyzed evidence from the Paris case and was interrupted by Nightless Sky Huo Le.

• White Suit gave Good Night data on Supreme Evolution technology, including artificial life, and said the transfer was an investment in the future course of Good Night's plans.
• White Suit explained that they had already gotten what they wanted and kept Good Night restrained until it was time to leave.
• White Suit warned that Good Night's death could bring trouble from two women favored by the God of Banquets and the God of Alchemy, then introduced themself as Creator.
• Fu Luo examined scene photographs and concluded that Supervisor Tennyson and the Rainbow Light Family kid had suppressed Paris, while the surveillance footage had been tampered with.
• Fu Luo updated his case model and planned to leave the final choices to Lin Yu.
• Nightless Sky Huo Le entered the tea room, and Fu Luo recognized her.

Nightless Sky Huo Le told Fu Luo she believed the Family Head had secretly made Nightless Sky Fire Apricot her successor and was arranging Huo Le’s downfall. Fu Luo explained that he, Fire Apricot, and Arthur were investigating President Paris’s case together, but Huo Le remained convinced the Family Head was behind the plot.

• Nightless Sky Huo Le criticized Fu Luo’s tea before learning he had brewed it himself, then said Fire Apricot had not treated him attentively.
• Nightless Sky Huo Le admitted she had expected Fu Luo to stay loyal to her but said she could not drag him down as she lost power.
• Nightless Sky Huo Le claimed the Family Head had chosen Nightless Sky Fire Apricot as her true successor and intended her to take over Huo Le’s team.
• Fu Luo showed Nightless Sky Huo Le that he, Fire Apricot, and Arthur were investigating President Paris’s case, and asked why she thought the Family Head had authorized it.
• Nightless Sky Huo Le argued that only the Family Head had the power and motive to arrange the case so thoroughly.

Fu Luo explained to Nightless Sky Huo Le why he suspected the remnants of Supreme Evolution had framed President Paris using technology from another world. He realized the culprit might be a Player from a previous version and sent Arthur the new lead, while reassuring Huo Le that their investigation would support her future as Family Head.

• Nightless Sky Huo Le suspected Nightless Sky Yong Lian had framed President Paris, but Fu Luo showed her his investigation into Supreme Evolution.
• Fu Luo argued that the Family Head had not abandoned Huo Le or President Paris and that the incident might have another explanation.
• Fu Luo described how the culprit had distorted the perceptions of the three people at the scene and concluded that the method likely used technology from another world.
• Fu Luo ruled out Players from the current version and proposed that the Creator or another culprit might be a Player from a previous version.
• Fu Luo sent his findings and new conjecture to Arthur, then told Huo Le their work would help secure her future position as Family Head.

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot led the group through underground waterways and into a pipe passage on the way to the Oumia Bosen hideout. Lin Yu introduced himself to Ailan Rainbowlight, who recognized him as the Truth Company madman behind the proposal to restart the Fear project.

• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot and Ailan Rainbowlight parked and tied up their boats, while Old Zheng recovered from seasickness.
• Old Zheng declined help and said he wanted to avoid revealing too much to Ailan Rainbowlight.
• Nightless Sky Fire Apricot cut a person-sized opening through the rock wall, revealing a maintenance tunnel beside several pipes.
• Lin Yu deliberately fell behind with Ailan Rainbowlight and talked with her as they followed the group through the tunnel.
• Lin Yu introduced himself as Supervisor John H. Arthur, and Ailan Rainbowlight recognized him as the Truth Company madman who proposed restarting the Fear project.

Lin Yu questioned Ailan Rainbowlight about her support for Supreme Evolution, and she explained that she backed its ideas despite the threat they posed to her own noble family. The chapter ended with Ailan declaring that the City That Never Sleeps needed ideas she believed were truly right, not nobles perpetuating their privilege.

• Ailan Rainbowlight recognized Lin Yu as a key figure behind Truth Company's plan to restart the Fear project and asked why he was working with Nightless Sky Huo Ming.
• Lin Yu explained that Nightless Sky Huo Le remained the intended heir and that Huo Ming sought greater influence rather than the family head position.
• Ailan questioned Lin Yu's motives for joining the murder investigation and suspected he wanted to learn everything about Supreme Evolution.
• Lin Yu asked why Ailan, a future duchess, supported Supreme Evolution despite the threat it posed to noble families and companies.
• Ailan argued that bloodlines did not make nobles inherently superior and that their alchemical advantage came from education and resources.
• Ailan declared that Supreme Evolution's vision was right and that she would side with it despite being a noble.

Lin Yu and Ailan Rainbowlight discussed their shared beliefs in Supreme Evolution and the deaths of Ailan’s brother, Aide Rainbow Light, and teammate Dark Rock. As they hurried to catch up with the others, Lin Yu pressed Ailan over whether she regretted that Aide had taken her place at the fatal meeting, and she warned him that he was crossing a line.

• Ailan Rainbowlight explained that she hoped Lin Yu might eventually support changes to the City That Never Sleeps and join her cause.
• Ailan recalled that Dark Rock’s death had saddened her and told Lin Yu that her younger brother, Aide Rainbow Light, had assisted her as part of their team.
• Ailan said she did not regret following Supreme Evolution’s ideas or Aide’s choice to follow them, though she felt sadness and loss.
• Ailan said she would take revenge if she had the chance, and Lin Yu promised to tell her if he discovered the real killer.
• Lin Yu asked whether Ailan regretted that Aide had attended the meeting where he was killed in her place, then suggested Aide had been drawn into Supreme Evolution because of her.
• Ailan warned Lin Yu that his questions were crossing the line.